1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a sub-assembly of a housing for electronic equipment and which is capable of carrying electronic components, the sub-assembly comprising an injection moulded plastics body having a first surface constructed to form part of the exterior surface of the housing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various types of electrical apparatus are constructed in modular form to allow a number of facilities appropriate to a given application to be provided in an economical manner. Apparatus such as data terminals or telephone instruments may be provided in basic form or with a number of different options. While these various options may be provided by adding standard modules to the basic apparatus this still leaves the problem of the physical construction of the apparatus, i.e. how to allow for the varying quantity of equipment to be housed. This can be achieved by having a custom designed housing for each variant but since the housings are frequently formed from injection moulded plastics sections the tooling costs become high, especially since an increasing number of offered options means that the quantity of any one version is reduced. A telephone instrument housing comprising a sub-assembly as described herein is disclosed in applicant's copending applications Ser. Nos. 916,919 and 916,922, filed concurrently herewith.
German Pat. No. 1223889 shows a telephone instrument which comprises a number of modules which are inserted in a base section, the upper surfaces of the modules providing the upper surface of the housing. The modules comprise inter alia handset modules, dial modules, switch modules, lamp modules. These modules are however of different shapes and sizes which increases their cost of production.